Acquisition and extinction of a runway response after odor-intensified or -minimized conditions, within-subjects trial administration, and a one-minute intertrial interval.

Abstract

A two-phase study was conducted during which 2 groups of albino rats received the same schedule of reward and nonreward, the same magnitude of reward and nonreward confinement, the same intertrial and intersubject intervals and the same trial order. The only difference was that one group of Ss was trained and extinguished under an odor-intensified condition, whereas the second group was trained and extinguished under an odor-reduced condition. In the goal segment Ss trained under an odor-intensified condition discriminated the schedule perfectly during acquisition and were less resistant to extinction than Ss trained under the odor-reduced condition. Following a 2-wk. interval, Phase II, the groups underwent acquisition and extinction again under reversed odor-conditions. The results were replicated within the study.